Pv capacity factors > 1

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#1

Hello

This may be a stupid question but, can capacity factors of pv be higher than one ? I have been downloading data for some sites in Canada and if I compute the maximum capacity factor for a given site sometimes values are slightly higher than one. Is it correct ?

thanks for the site, it is amazing. Best

Miguel

#2

I am having the same problem with data from Bolivia.

#3

Dear Miguel, Taina,

Thank you for reporting this problem. I have found a simulation that gives us an example to work with: the desert around Cerro Tunupa, but only if system losses are set to 0%:

https://www.renewables.ninja/api/data/pv?lat=-20&lon=-68&date_from=2016-01-01&date_to=2016-12-31&dataset=merra2&capacity=1&system_loss=0&tracking=0&tilt=15&azim=180&raw=false&format=csv

I’ll need to ask Stefan to look at it as the solar model is his domain.

#4

@miguelfastudillo @taina_martins Apologies for the delay in getting to this. In some very sunny hours panels were able to produce beyond their rated capacity, causing this issue. It has now been fixed (see https://github.com/renewables-ninja/gsee/tree/v0.2.1). In the case Iain posted, the difference in annual output is less than 0.1%, so this should not affect results in any appreciable manner, but it takes care of those hours where hourly CF was >1.

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